Final Talks

Our last day began a little bit cloudy and rainy. Therefore we took a cab to the SEC and then filled up places in the last planery session with Jane Setter. She talked about Intonation and how important it is to teach it to our students.

First she gave insight in how intonation works and what tonality, tonicity and tone mean. Her focus layed on the intonational phrase (IP) which is determined by loudness, length and pitch. She continued her presentation with several studies about the aquisition of intonation where she compared Japanese, Chinese learners with native speakers. The highlight of the session definitely was her, singing a song from ¨My fair Lady¨ and ¨Locomotion¨ with intonation lyrics.

My second talk was about ¨Five steps how to prepare your students for the 21st Century¨ by Natassa Mannitsa. Sadly it got interrupted by the fire alarm and we had to ¨leave the building immediately¨. Although the building got evacuated I could take four exercises for my students with me: presentations (in front of parents), performances (theatre), parents meetings, pair work & role play;

After the evacuation I attended a session about ¨ Analyzing data on lesson plans¨. To be honest, I thought it would be about how lesson plans help you to improve your management in class (to give the students the biggest opportunity to learn). However, Jaqueline Fernandes only talked about the teachers trainee situation in Brazil and how bad the current school system is. I couldn’t take anything from it…

Last but not least, the TED Talk! I have to admit that I love TED Talks and that I think that they are a great source for lesson content. This talk by Daniel Barber just pushed me to be more confident about using TED Talks in my lessons. First he introduced why TED Talks are so popular: they are interesting, short, clear, accessible and global! He continued with the principles of listening comprehension and how to turn a TED Talk into an effective task. Even though the end could have been ¨smoother¨, the session confirmed my attitude towards TED Talks.

Off-topic:

Lukas and I found the pub he had been to last August. I could meet the extraordinary waitress Emma. It was a pleasure to meet her – and the food was delicious there!!